Friday, October 21, 2011

a dash of pep

i think dash is enjoying this cooler weather. he was positively peppy on tonight's walk. usually he's dragging behind as far and as slowly as he can.

the other night he got the post-bath zoomies big time. so big that he BARKED. understand, dash doesn't bark. ever. except when he's in the car with a distressed cat. i've taken riley, dash and nephthys all together for their annual exams the last couple years. and as soon as nephthys starts meowing in the crate, dash is there, barking and pawing at the door. the first time it happened, i was dumbfounded. i didn't know what to do, and he wouldn't stop. i tried pulling him away and distracting him, but he was on a mission! so i let nephthys out to see what would happen. she crept out and stopped meowing, and dash was fine. then she crept back into the safety of her crate, and as long as the door was open, she didn't meow, and dash didn't stress. and then he slept right in front of her crate, all the way to the vet. it was one of the sweetest and most amazing things i've ever seen an animal do. when the same thing happened the next year, i just opened her crate, and all was well. but first i had to hear his gruff little bark again.

the only other time (until last week) that i'd heard dash bark was when my complex was being repainted. the men crawled up on the garage roofs to get into the backyards, and dash saw them through the backdoor and barked. i was laying on the couch and he was sitting on the floor next to me. riley had been barking his head off, because that's what he does, but then i started hearing barks that didn't sound like his. bark. and a few seconds later, bark. i looked down, and there was dash, as casual as can be. bark. he wasn't stressed in the least, but he knew those men shouldn't have been up there, and he was letting me know.

luckily i had my phone handy to catch his frisky barks last week. it may not seem like much, but trust me when i say this footage you're about to see is rare and so very special.